Packers sign Young to compete for backup job

Vince Young is on the Green Bay Packers practice field this morning, after signing a 1-year contract with the team.

The Packers saw enough from Young in their workout on Monday to keep him in Green Bay, where he is expected to compete with Graham Harrell and B.J. Coleman for the backup job to Aaron Rodgers.

The 30-year-old Young was the third-overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. He has played in 60 career games with 50 starts in his six NFL seasons with Tennessee and Philadelphia.

Young has completed 57.9% of his passes for 8,964 yards in his career. He’s thrown 46 touchdown passes and 51 interceptions. Young has also rushed for 1,459 yards, averaging 5.2 yards per carry and scoring 12 touchdowns.

It’s not certain if Young will get enough of the offense to play in Friday’s preseason opener against Arizona, or if he’ll be able to learn the offense sufficiently during the rest of training camp to be able to win the backup job.

The Packers open the season Sept. 8 against the San Francisco 49ers and then host the Washington Redskins the next week. At the very least, Young should provide the Packers defense with a good scout look for Collin Kaepernick and Robert Griffin III.

Young went 30-17 as a starter in Tennessee. But the last time he played in an NFL regular season game was in 2001 with Philadelphia.